Improving Corporate Responsibility Practices,
Measurement and Disclosure in the
Government Contractor Community
About CROA
• CROA is a community of leaders committed to advancing corporate responsibility
across the sectors and around the world
• Our members include the CEOs and executives committed to implementing and
overseeing corporate leadership in the following interconnected areas:
• Sustainability
• Ethics and Governance
• Human Rights
• Employee Relations
• Philanthropy and Corporate Citizenship
• Compliance and Risk Management
• We are a community of nearly 1200 professionals from 150 companies who practice,
provide, and advise on improving corporate responsibility
Current trends in our community
• Growing general distrust in corporations. Increased focus on
waste, fraud and abuse among government contractors.
• Perceived lack of transparency and accountability in government.
A recent push to promote open government and promote
transparency.
• Growing use of government purchasing power to promote
Administration policy goals and individual agency missions
The need for a Roundtable

Is there a way for this community to come together to voluntarily
raise the bar on corporate responsibility Or do we wait for more
regulations, legislation and executive orders to mold our
behavior?

Is there a way to use corporate responsibility as a competitive
advantage to:




improve industry’s profitability
increase government's impact
leverage taxpayer’s dollars
The mission of the Roundtable is to foster and evolve corporate
responsibility practices, measures, and disclosure in the government
contractor community
Steering Committee Roadmap
Current State
• Government balancing
taxpayer desire to cut
spending with achieving
important societal goals
• Perceived lack of
transparency and
accountability
• No established CR
community in public sector
• Inconsistent use of
government purchasing
power to further policy goals
Action Strategies
Define what CR is in the public sector, communicating
why it is important and the impact it can have
Build on CROA’s existing work by developing
quantitative and qualitative metrics to be applied to
the government contractor community and pilot this
Educate the public sector and contractor community
through case studies, recognition programs, and
government CR pilots
• Lack of aggregated,
accessible CR data/metrics
To Be Vision
• Government purchasing spurs
innovation, efficiency and
meets societal goals
• Increased transparency and
accountability in how
government delivers services
leads to improved results, trust
• Common CR value set drives
government purchasing within
and across agencies
• Publicly available data helps
government make better
partnering decisions, spending
taxpayer dollars with less risk
Vision Statement
Our vision is a future in which corporate responsibility is viewed as a key input into
government decision making and the delivery of its mission, including the selection
and/or compensation of its partners and contractors
Values
Research
• Define what CR means in the public sector sphere for government, contractors, NGOs, etc.
• Review how CR impacts government purchasing today and build a future vision and case for change
• Leverage CROA’s research and membership to explore what is common and unique across the public and private
sectors around the globe
Education
• Define a set of quantitative and qualitative public sector metrics that support the CR value set. These measures
should be informed by what CROA already measures in the private sector.
• Ensure appropriate context and guidance are provided to make measures meaningful
• Find a government agency partner to model or pilot this approach
• Use CROAs Best Corporate Citizen List to push adoption of these measures
• Develop thought leadership pieces to communicate CR’s value and impact
• Educate and train the new generation of public sector leaders on corporate responsibility
• Develop case studies of effective CR in the public sector
• Convene summits, events and roundtables to communicate and refine approach, measures and practices
Recognition
• Identify a common set of values around good corporate citizenship in the public sector
• Provide a uniform set of principles to guide government decision making and inform corporate practices
• Define possibilities and expectations around how values can inform purchasing and partnering decisions
Measures
Action Lanes
• Shine the light on outstanding examples across the entire public sector (not just industry) to engage real change
• Leverage CROA’s existing programs, magazine, and membership to recognize and communicate best practices
• Enlist partners to drive engagement across public/private sectors and government
Call to Action
• Read the ResponsibilityWorks Call to Action to learn more.
• Responsibility pays; proven true in the private sector where the 100
Best Corporate Citizens consistently outperform the S&P 5001 (by
19% in 2010).
• We seek firms and agencies to participate in corporate
responsibility pilots to deliver better mission outcomes.
• To discuss a pilot, please contact ResponsibilityWorks Executive
Director Joiwind Ronen at joiwind.ronen@sharedxpertise.com or
Director of Communities & Member Services Kim Gilliam at
kim.gilliam@sharedxpertise.com.
GSA GreenGov Supply Chain Partnership
Public/Private Partnership, Small Business Pilot
• Announced by GSA in November 2010, a voluntary collaboration between
federal government and suppliers to promote clean energy and cut waste and
pollution in the federal supply chain
• 60 small businesses pilot participants asked to explore the benefits and challenges of
measuring greenhouse gas emissions
• EPA CLIMATE LEADERS providing technical assistance to small businesses to
measure, report and reduce their carbon footprint
• Guide to developing a GHG inventory
• Simplified GHG Calculator and Inventory Management Plan
• Training on how to use the tools, reduce emissions from electricity and fuel, and
approach purchasing offsets and green power
Sources: www.gsa.gov / www.opa.gov/climateleaders/smallbiz
City of El Paso, Texas Responsible Purchasing Program
• Provision of health benefits is a positive evaluation factor—along with price, reputation, technical
qualifications, and past performance—weighed by city. The health benefits bidders provide are rated on a
scale of 0 to 10; the resulting score then represents 10% of the overall best value score for the bid. Price
remains the most significant factor accounting for between 40 and 70 percent.
City of Los Angeles Responsible Purchasing Program
• Since 2000, L.A. has used a responsible contractor policy to determine who demonstrate the attributes of
trustworthiness as well as quality, fitness, capacity and experience to satisfactorily perform the contract.
All agencies review potential bidders’ history of labor, employment, environmental and workplace safety
violations. These disclosures are made available for public review
States of Connecticut & Illinois Responsible Purchasing Program
•
In 2004, Connecticut adopted improved responsibility review and a prequalification system for
bidders on public works projects larger than $500,000. Evaluates prospective bidders based on
their integrity, work history, experience, financial condition, and record of legal compliance
•
Illinois Department of Transportation uses a similar system to evaluate bidders’ capacity to perform
public contracts. Based on a range of factors that includes past compliance with labor and equal
employment opportunity laws
Source: National Employment Law Project: The Road to Responsible Contracting
Government of Norway Ethical Trading Initiative
Government-wide ethical purchasing program
•
The Government declared in 2009 “public institutions should lead the way in
being responsible consumers who request environmentally friendly goods
and goods being produced in accordance with high ethical and social
standards.”
• Government uses the Ethical Criteria in Public Sector Procurement guide to
detail:
• Which ethical criteria public institutions may set for their suppliers
• At which stage of procurement process to set the criteria
• How observance of the criteria may be monitored
• Developed with the multi-stakeholder Ethical Trading Initiative (companies,
trade unions and NGOs)
Source: Norway Action Plan for Environmental & Social Responsibility in Public Procurement 2007-2010
Carbon Disclosure Project
Voluntary Global Database
• The Carbon Disclosure Project is an independent not-
for-profit organization holding the largest database of
primary corporate climate change information in the
world
• The Carbon Disclosure Project launched in 2000 to
accelerate solutions to climate change by putting
relevant information at the heart of business, policy
and investment decisions
• CDP acts on behalf of 534 institutional investors,
holding $64 trillion in assets under management and
some 60 purchasing organizations such as Cadbury,
PepsiCo and Walmart.
Source: www.cdproject.net
CR Magazine & CROA’s Best Corporate Citizens List
Recognition Program
• In 2010, the Russell 1000 companies had a 3-year average return on shareholder
value of -5.4%
• The 100 Best Citizens returned +2.4% while the least transparent companies on
the “Black List” returned -7.4%
• Pilot opportunities…
• Can we create an industry pilot to encourage government contractors to voluntarily apply
and disclose these criteria?
• Can we pilot how privately held companies would apply and report on these criteria?
Loudon County Green Business Challenge
Recognition Program
• First held in 2010, Loudoun County Government and Chamber of Commerce
partner to encourage businesses to adopt environmentally sound business
practices
• Provides a roadmap and benchmarking mechanism (scorecard)
• Creates competition among businesses to do their best
• Businesses awarded points for taking environmental actions
• Can earn points by attending a series of educational events around how to become more
environmentally sustainable
• Recognizes businesses for their achievement
• Based on number of points earned, business recognized as a “Participant”, “Certified
Green Business,” or “Silver”, “Gold” or “Platinum Green Business”, announced at annual
Loudon Green Gala
Source: www.loudon.gov/energy
Pilot Discussion
• What do we do next?
• What kind of pilots make sense?
• Who should we talk to?
Closing Discussion
• Next Roundtable Meeting
• Next Steering Committee Meeting
Steering Committee Meeting
National Academy of Public Administration
February 3, 2011
Presented by:
Richard Crespin
Joiwind Ronen
Kim Jones